Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Hope

Three weeks and one day on the road complete. A whirlwind of seeing the country, packing up a child to move, and lots of days in the car…and we are back.

I am so grateful for the reset. The experience. Car camping is an entirely different experience out west where there’s lots of BLM land. The cooler nights were perfect. And I saw so, so much of the country that I hadn’t seen in my adult life. The mountains of Missouri, the lakes and farm in Oklahoma, the red cliffs and beautiful yet desolate lands of New Mexico, Arizona mountains and canyons and the ocean up and down the Pacific Northwest Highway in California. My head is still spinning.

Hiking Everywhere

And the best part was being able to limit my drive times every day to enjoy long hikes. I hiked in 7 different National Parks from Eisenhower just north of Dallas to Red Rocks in Nevada, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, saw the largest tree on earth in the Sequoia National Forest in California to the Petrified Forest, to Palo Duro Canyon outside Amarillo. It was a life changing journey all the way around. (I saw someone mentioned the cost of park entry. Thankfully, I have a lifetime America the Beautiful pass that allows me entry to all the parks.)

Back to Reality

We got back to Texas yesterday. And tomorrow I begin house/dog sitting for a week for one of my brothers. (Working as a dog/house sitter via Rover.com has been a pretty lucrative side gig so far. I’ve already had repeat requests and bookings, and some future work pending.)

I also picked up a new client over the last week so that was a boon to add during the trip as well.

More updates to come…but wanted to drop in a say Hello. I’ll get the total trip costs calculated and posted over the next week. The gas was high, as expected. But car camping was free. I took plenty of food for both Addie and I. So for being gone so long, it really wasn’t terrible. And as I have always thought…I LOVE car camping, even for an extended period.

Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.